A short bank holiday trip for Hereford FC on Monday, as the Bulls hop across the border into Shropshire for a National League North clash with AFC Telford United, the only senior club in that county to have picked up any points, or indeed scored any goals, so far this season, with the rabble from the outskirts of Bayston Hill finding it hard to get across the halfway line in League 1. Oh, scrub that, the Sloppies actually finally won, albeit after a fight.
Unusually, given Hereford’s underwhelming time in the NLN to date, their record against the Bucks is reasonably respectable, having won one and drawn two.
Telford kicked off their season last weekend with a hugely impressive 3-0 demolition of Chorley, playing half the game with ten men following Jason Oswell’s sending off. However, they followed that up this weekend with a 2-0 loss at Blyth, and losing to Blyth has proved to be very, very hard to do in recent seasons for almost everyone. So, they might be good, they might be rubbish, they might be good at home, they might be rubbish away. One thing’s for certain: if Hereford have just been generally unlucky so far and they’re better than that solitary point gained to date, a fourth match with an ‘unlucky’ outcome will be less sympathetically received by fans. It might start to look like it’s down to the players rather than the lap of the gods.
Having missed out on the play-offs on goal difference the last time an NLN season was actually completed, the Bucks have been on the slide a bit since, finishing below Hereford when last season was prematurely put out of its misery, having played a number of games more than the Bulls.
Likeable manager Gavin Cowan has been given time to build his own squad, and that opening win against Chorley suggests that Telford may be in contention for promotion this time.
Ex-Kiddy striker Matthew Barnes-Homer performs the Yan Klukowski role for the club, combining coaching with occasional forays onto the pitch.
Shrewsbury-born Elliot Durrell returned to Telford in the summer after more than a decade away. A dependable midfielder with promotions from both the National League and National League North under his belt, he looks like a shrewd signing.
As for the Bulls – ouf, as the French would say. An absolute caning from AFC Fylde on Saturday, with several conclusions to be drawn: 1/ The new left back has a solid enough CV but in the three games he’s played thus far for Hereford he occasionally looks like he’s got other things on his mind. 2/ I’ve seen a lot of games at Edgar Street over the years and a lot of very poor football, but the concession of the fourth goal against Fylde was among the most amateurish/park-footballish/switching-offish things I’ve ever seen. 3/ Luke Haines is a properly good footballer, a Tony James in the making. 4/ The centre forward brought in from Eastleigh played like someone who can’t get a game at Eastleigh. Presumably with fitness will come a bit more cutting edge. Was it underwhelming that an Eastleigh reserve was brought in as the goalscoring solution? Yes, a bit, although it must be tough finding anyone at this point in the season yada yada. 5/ Tom Owen Evans is also a properly good footballer at this level and will come good. 6/ Fylde went with the traditional two basketball players at centre back and another up front, with even dangerous winger Tollitt a big ‘un. They won efficiently but looked as surprised as everybody else at some of the goals. If that’s the best in the division there’s nothing to fear this season from a Bulls squad that clearly has some classiness in it. Admittedly that may sound a little hollow after getting done 4-1 at home!
Whilst there’s a pessimistic aspect to some of the elements in the above paragraph, Saturday was a bit of a strange one. This squad is better than that one point it has earned from three games so far. Maybe this is where it all comes together, but a side capable of switching off to the extent that they did for the fourth Fylde goal on Saturday is a side going absolutely nowhere, and one that shouldn’t be playing in front of a crowd of 2000 paying to witness such amateurism, frankly.
An aberration, a bad day at the office, the equivalent of last season’s Chester game, which was a real turning point? Here’s hoping.
COYW